Obama kicks off jobs campaign in Texas

5/9/13 3:48 PM EDT

President Obama was back in campaign mode Thursday as he sought to push his plans and his administration's record on job growth during a trip to Austin, Texas.

The president told roughly 400 people crammed into a technical high school gym that the "rubble" from the worst recession since the Great Depression has now been cleared away -- the economy has added millions of jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level since 2008 -- and now it's time to work even harder to realize more gains.

"All of us have to commit ourselves to doing better than we're doing now," Obama said.

The president ticked through his plans to grow the middle class -- "the true engine of economic growth" -- including making America a magnet for good jobs, helping people get the education they need to perform those jobs, and ensuring that people who are working hard are able to earn a decent living. Though he conceded some of his proposals to realize those goals, from tax reform to a minimum wage increase, haven't gone very far.

"Some of them have been blocked in Congress for, frankly, political reasons," he said, but added, "I'm going to keep on trying."

Obama said that in the meantime, he is doing what he can without Congress. He signed an executive order Thursday requiring that newly released government data be made freely available in machine-readable formats, the way GPS and National Weather Service information is currently available. The administration also announced Thursday it was launching competitions and committing $200 million to start three new manufacturing innovation institutes -- public-private partnerships designed to spur innovation.

The visit to Manor New Technology High School was the first stop scheduled Thursday in Austin. Obama was also set to have lunch with some local families and to tour high-tech manufacturer Applied Materials Inc, where he is slated to deliver more remarks. The White House has billed the Austin visit as the first in a series of "Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tours."